


Dut, dut, dut, dut

by Osomatsus



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Marching Band, Band Fic, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), F/F, F/M, Gay Male Character, Gay Shiro (Voltron), Humor, Inspirational Speeches, M/M, Music, Musical Instruments, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, SHIRO BABEY HES GAY, They are all humans, against the amino posts will they are humans, antics, im sorry im just like that sometimes, op said narti has a tail but go off i guess @ myself, thanks coran, this fic is for me to geek out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-16 04:56:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15429483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Osomatsus/pseuds/Osomatsus
Summary: “Dad,” Lance whined, dragging out the ‘a’ sound for about 10 minutes. He had the butt of his rifle on the asphalt, leaning on the tip which was far too low to be remotely comfortable. His sunglasses reflected the light of a billion suns to which Shiro was very thankful that he had his own pair. “Please hydrate us.”Shiro sighed, looking over to Alfor who was paying no attention at all. He was busy talking to Matt about god knows what. It seemed the man was always interested in Matt. Then again, all of the adults were frankly quite impressed by the things he could do. Playing saxophone while upside down wasn’t exactly something you saw every morning at 8:30, after all.“Alright, guys,” he shouted before blowing the whistle around his neck. To this day he felt way too powerful being in possession of it. “5 minutes for water, then we regroup to set 6!” And with that, he hopped off his podium and made his way to his own things.AKA: im a bandgeek and i found an au on amino and devoted my life to it





	1. Meet the band

**Author's Note:**

> THIS FANTASTIC AND LOVELY AU BELONGS TO ASH. i found it on voltron amino and i fell in love and wanted to write a fic  
> im basing it off of her post ( http://aminoapps.com/p/7300l0 ) so go check out that awesome content right there ;O

“Dad,” Lance whined, dragging out the ‘a’ sound for about 10 minutes. He had the butt of his rifle on the asphalt, leaning on the tip which was far too low to be remotely comfortable. His sunglasses reflected the light of a billion suns to which Shiro was very thankful that he had his own pair. “Please hydrate us.”

Shiro sighed, looking over to Alfor who was paying no attention at all. He was busy talking to Matt about god knows what. It seemed the man was always interested in Matt. Then again, all of the adults were frankly quite impressed by the things he could do. Playing saxophone while upside down wasn’t exactly something you saw every morning at 8:30, after all.

“Alright, guys,” he shouted before blowing the whistle around his neck. To this day he felt way too powerful being in possession of it. “5 minutes for water, then we regroup to set 6!” And with that, he hopped off his podium and made his way to his own things.

As he walked, Allura slid up to his side, flute tucked into one of her knee high socks. “I still think the only reason you’re major is because people listen to a man with a body.” She snickered, indulging his reaction. He seemed a bit flustered, but proceeded to flex an arm and promptly shrug afterward.

“I’d argue, but I think you’re right.”

“Right about what?”

Shiro jolted, the appearance of Keith being out of the blues. He did that a lot. His shoes were so worn out that you couldn’t hear him stomping his feet. By now, Shiro should have expected Keith’s bizarre arrivals. There were three conditions in which he would appear. The first was  _ every _ time he was talking to Allura and Allura alone. The second was if he was minding his own business and started spacing out. The third? That was still a bit scattered and hard to predict. About 4 out of every 9 times Shiro was talking to Lance, Keith would just show up.

Speaking of Lance, he had his own tendency to show up when Shiro was talking to Allura as well. “Hello lovebirds,” he cooed, forcing his way between Allura and Shiro. “Keith.”

The latter grunted in response, leaving the scene of the crime before it happened.

“For the last time, Lance,” Allura warned, picking up some weird, insulated gallon jug of water, “I will never date Shiro. He’s too…” She trailed off upon realizing that the drum major, who had every bit of her misery at his… whistle… was right beside her with his own water bottle against his lips in anticipation. “Dad-like.” A shrug.

Lance snorted. “Oof, buddy, good luck next time.” And with that, he walked away.

The two parents of the ensemble calmly waited until he was out of hearing to laugh. “Too dad-like? You could have said  _ anything _ else, Allura.”

“I have no intentions of outing you unless you beg me for it. Besides, it is perfectly feasible. I have a dad and a half already. I don’t need another one.”

Shiro shook his head, shoulders shaking as he finally took a drink.

 

Practice continued with little to no hassle because Shiro was quite generous with his water breaks, much to Zarkon’s disappointment. That man loved to work the kids bone dry, and Shiro knew this, and used it to his power as drum major. That wasn’t even including the fact that it was well over 100 degrees out and they lived damn near Death Valley.

 

Something that everybody knew Shiro loved to do was get higher on the podium. A few times, this ended in tragedies and people scared for his arm since it was already gone. So right before practice was over, as people were getting ready for the runthrough, Shiro thought it would be a great idea to stack several trumpet cases up so he could be almost twice as high as he usually was. This was all happening thanks to Matt’s surprisingly talented architecture skills and his personal influence. Personal  _ bad _ influence.

Whenever Shiro got taller, it meant he was tired, wanted to go home, and generally had no cares left. This rehearsal, despite the heat, he held out very long. While the color guard stood by the pit, he leaned over to Pidge as soon as the tower started forming “5 hours and 32 minutes.” She pulled out her ‘dot book’ that she had no reason to have and jotted the number down with the date.

“Thanks,” she noted, sliding it back into her massive mallet case. Pidge was a marvel. She was the smallest person in the ensemble (they’ve measured her several times) with the tiniest hands Alfor has ever seen. And yet she was center marimba her freshman year in the ensemble. That girl was a goddess on the keys. The entire pit worshipped her as if she was sent from the heavens above.

Matt was the proudest older brother you’ve ever seen. If Pidge had the pit weak in the knees, Matt had them weak in the knees because he was the entire reason she got into band and percussion in the first place.

Katie Holt was a pianist, inching her way to being a prodigy when she started lessons 2 months after she could walk. Both of the Holts were, frankly, geniuses in their own rights. They had the brainpower of the entire Manhattan project in 2 skulls. Both of them were quite musically inclined as well, one more than the other. Matt had talent, but he used it for evil rather than good. Katie used her abilities to work up the ladder. With her brains, she skipped 2 grades and joined a 7th grade and up ensemble when she was 10.

Shiro loved the Holt family, and they treasured him. That’s why Matt was such an influence on each other. They kind of have a thing for each other that they won’t discuss because next year they are both heading off to college and Matt just so happens to be crossing the country while Shiro heads right up to Rio Salado for aviation. They were the second most popular couple in the ensemble (of couples that were not but should be).

Their ensemble had quite a few power duos in it, but the true power couple lied in the relationship between local low brass sensation Hunk Garrett and his just as iconic girlfriend Shay. Those two were inseparable. Hunk repaired the instruments whenever kids had mishaps, and did regular, free maintenance checks during competition season just so nothing catastrophic happened on field. He was a real sweetheart. Shay was a percussionist and carried tenors like no man could ever. The reason those two were such a power couple was because both of them were huge. They were very tall and that gave them a lot of authority if they would ever be assertive enough to use it. Hunk was well over 6 feet, and shay breached the number herself by a couple inches. If you asked anybody in the group, those 2 were the MVPs of the band.

 

The day ended for the entire ensemble at 6, but the pit always got out early for two reasons. 1, they were the most organized section, and 2, they had to roll all of their equipment back inside and that always took forever. Especially when a girl who was probably no higher than 5’1 was rolling an instrument that weighed at least twice as much as she did. And she refused help. Luckily, the guard would always get released to help because there was so much equipment. Typically, when this happened, the job got done faster. It also gave Lance another chance to talk to Pidge.

Lance thought Pidge was a beast. Straight up. At first, though, those two had a mishap where he thought Pidge was a boy. When she first joined, in 7th grade, she had all her hair cut really short, so for the first few years, Lance thought she was a cool dude. In 10th grade, Pidge came into the season and had started growing her hair out again. She came back, and Lance immediately began asking where Pidge was and why this girl replaced him. That lead to an outburst of “I’m Pidge!! How did you know I wasn’t a girl!? Matt calls me his  _ sister _ !” And Alfor had to pull the two aside and console them to realizing it was a misunderstanding.

Ever since then, those two have had a different sort of bond that nobody else understands. Now, on occasion, Lance will waltz up, ask Pidge if she needs help, and she’ll let him. Occasionally.

Today was one of the days where she said yes.

Whenever she said yes, it meant everybody else got to go inside sooner, too, so those days were the best days. Once she and Lance had gotten the marimba inside, everybody started gathering their things and heading inside.

 

Finally, everybody had their stuff in check, and Coran gathered the students for their traditional ‘End of rehearsal motivational speech’ that would be a lot more useful if it happened before rehearsal. Still, they treasured it nonetheless.

“Today was long, hot, and tiring, but you all did fantastic. I know the heat hurts your hands and eyes, and skin if you forget about it, but you all power through like champions! Great work today. Let’s make tomorrow morning just as efficient. Go home, get a good healthy meal in your bellies, get plenty of rest, and take showers, you all stink,” there was a pause where the group laughed. “Call time is 8, rehearsal begins at augmented 9.” He clapped for the break, and people gathered in their carpools and cliques to leave for home.


	2. Guardians of the Elements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro took in the uniform, the backstory of his measly role as the major and how she gave it meaning. He was breathless.
> 
> All he could say was “Wow.”

“Are you ready, Lance?” Pidge asked, pulling four of her mallets from the pouch. He gave a nod, let her get situated, and then gave a thumbs up that be was about to record.

Once Lance’s hand dropped back to his phone, she began a very soulful rendition of heart and soul. As the melody came in, Matt danced into frame and hit a very emotional whip. Instantly, there was a yell of “STOP REMAKING VINES!” from either Shiro or Allura, it was hard to tell. All three of them burst into laughter, Matt falling on the floor since he was already bent over.

After a minute of calming down, Pidge cleared her throat, raised her mallets again and began playing the marimba ringtone for iPhones.

That’s when Shiro burst into the band room, pointing his finger at Pidge. “You knock that off, I’m going to have nightmares.” Nobody laughed. This was routine. They can’t laugh now, as much as they wanted to. Matt and Lance stared at the floor “ashamed” of themselves (holding back the laughter until the right time)

She shrugged, picked up a fifth mallet in one of her hands, and said “Okay. How about this?” Instantly, she began playing Dragonforce’s Through the Fire and Flames like it was the only thing she could do.

Shiro groaned, rubbed his face with his hands, turned around, and exited the band room.

Lance and Matt burst out into laughter again.

Finally, the three of them calmed down enough once Matt got a text from his mom that their lunches were here. He left, leaving Pidge and Lance to have free reign over the mallet percussion. “You know what to do,” he said, receiving a nod from Pidge. She made her way onto the vibraphone, Lance taking station at the marimba. Both of them grabbed malletts, counted off, and began to play the Mii Channel theme.

 

And those were lunch breaks in a nutshell.

 

When the band returned to rehearsal, Shiro was visibly fed up, probably due to the lunchtime antics of the Meme Teme. He was standing on the podium, on top of Matt’s saxophone case.

Oh boy.

 

During a water break Hunk walked over to Lance, hoisting the tuba off of his shoulder with a groan. “Why do I play this thing, again?” Lance snorted, shrugging.

“Man, I twirl in circles for 10 minutes, I have no idea why you do what you do.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder to the flags leaned up against the wall. “But I do know that you’re a boss ass bitch and take no shit but your own. I support you.” He pat Hunk on the shoulder just in time for the ever beloved Honerva to come over.

In the guard, there was a difference between Honerva and Haggar. Haggar was when she was clearly annoyed while Honerva was when she was happy. She had a box in her arms and a smile on her face, so she was clearly pleased with something. “Lance,” she called, beckoning him over. He had 2 bonus points compared to everybody else in the guard. 1, he was the only boy, 2, he was the section leader since there were no seniors in it. Therefore, he was Honerva’s favorite.

“What’s in the box?” His eyes were more focused on that than her. She set it on the ground, and opened it up, pulling out a latex jumpsuit, white and blue with weird plastic lines in patterns strategically placed around the outfit, the school’s V logo right in the middle of the chest and on each shoulder. “It’s so cool!” Lance jumped in excitement, taking the suit from her. “Is this a prototype or the actual show costume?”

She pat him on the shoulder lightly. “Try it on and then I’ll decide, okay?”

He sprinted off while she collected the girls to go have them all try on their outfits as well. 

When Lance came outside in the suit, a bunch of people started talking in excitement. The suit looked almost like armor, the way the design was laid out. It was amazing. “I definitely think this is going to be the show version,” she remarked, watching Lance’s face light up. 

“Honerva, these are amazing!” He stuck a leg out to admire the designs, and then saw more of the plastic lines. His nose scrunched up and he looked back to her. “What are these things, though?”

In that moment, all the girls came out, looking very similar. They had latex jumpsuits as well, with an additional skirt pattern that bloomed out from the waistline. On the skirts, there was that plastic lining again that bothered Lance so much. “Line up, ladies, right alongside Lance. I want to see how this looks.” She pulled out a remote, waiting until they were all grouped up. Suddenly, every place that had the plastic lining began glowing a bright, neon blue. Everybody in the ensemble was reacting positively to that, gasps, awes, comments. The guard began looking at each other and yelling in excitement. She quickly turned off the light. “I have to preserve the battery life, sorry.”

She excused them all to go change after that.

When Lance came back, she signaled him over again, pulling out a notebook. “I need to get an opinion. Since the show’s theme is a sort of elemental knights ordeal, I’d like to colorize certain sections accordingly.” She showed him her list of 5 colors. Black, red, blue, yellow, and green. Underneath blue she had written ‘guard’, but the rest were blank. The two sat down on a bench and began planning out the color scheme.

 

The next few rehearsals went by very fast.

Sunday night, Honerva returned, one box in her hand and her trunk open with three more inside. A few of the guard members rushed over to take them. She lined up all 4 of the boxes, each one labeled with a color. Black, red, yellow, green. Then she began splitting the band up into sections.

In section one was the pit.

Section two had the trumpets, trombones and french horns.

The third section was the lowest brass and percussion.

Section four was the woodwinds.

She instructed certain girls to go to each section and then began speaking. “I’ve split you into sections for the costuming this year. As you know, the theme is elemental, but the spin on it is combat. You’ve seen the guard costumes, so you have a general idea of what your outfits will look like. Don’t worry, they aren’t skin tight.”

“The color guard is blue to represent water. The pit will be colored green for forestry and all things natural,” the box opened and one of the girls pulled out a green uniform, showing it off. It looked similar to what their regular uniform for marching was, but it had green detailing on it. The jacket had a mid-length flap on the front that probably was to cover up the zipper which was white with a green Voltron High logo on the front. the shoulderpads were green , while most of the sleeve, except for a few details, was white and had the plastic lining which, as learned a few days ago, glows bright blue. The pants were mostly white, made to look like boots over the top of black pants. It was incredible.

Honerva went on, facing the mid-brass. “This group will be red, showing fire.” Another uniform was revealed. It looked the same as the green uniform, but it was red wherever the former was green. That would look really cool with the blue lights. “Low brass, you are yellow, the sun and other forms of light.” The uniform was a very bright yellow which would stand out if you were flashy enough with it. “And finally, the woodwinds, black, to show space and beyond. The universe is yours,” she said, Lance pulling out the black colored uniform. Compared to the black, the faux undersuit was more of a grey now that you could compare it to true black. It was such a contrast to all the bright colors.

Everybody, again, was aweing at the uniforms. She had really gone out this year. People were crowding around boxes to try and get their uniforms together so they could try them on. While this was happening, Shiro approached the costume designer, cautious. “What color am I?” She turned to Shiro, sighed, in a good way, and instructed him to follow her to her car.

“You, Shiro, are the drum major. You have to stand out.” She pulled out a box, tiny, with Shiro’s name scrawled on the top in a sharpie. He set the box down, opening it to pull out a version of the uniform that was purple. A separate remote sat on the bottom of the box that he carefully took out and examined. His name was on the back of this as well, a label maker tag on this rather than writing. “Go ahead.” With the queue, he pushed the button, watching as the entire suit glowed a bright, almost white, purple. “You are above them as the major, acting as a deity watching over them through their battle. Your guidance leads them to victory.”

Shiro took in the uniform, the backstory of his measly role as the  _ major _ and how she gave it  _ meaning _ . He was breathless.

All he could say was “Wow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> antics with the guardians of the memes.
> 
> also i give u permission to punch me in the gut for making shiro as astral-plane shiro dkkfdskfkd bye
> 
> pls enjoy this im scream out of own :V

**Author's Note:**

> about that post.  
> its a god damn attack on my being. the reason i got so INVESTED in this au was because i read matt's character. and its me irl and i got SO MAD that i was INSPIRED. im here to drag matt through my mud, indirectly dragging myself.
> 
> IM KIDDING i just really love this au because im a music major and ive been doing marching things since 7th grade and i love it so much.... even though my school only did homecoming parade and we had a winter marching band i was only in for 2 years. i loved it so much and im lowkey reliving my experience through this fic
> 
> so instead of doing my other fics im gonna blast ass into another one are you ready?  
> ALSO https://dut4x.carrd.co/ <\--THAT LINK is loaded with information on this au and will be updated as we go along!
> 
> thank you ash for reviving my soul with this au ;3 you barely know me but thats okay


End file.
